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The recent publications of memoirs by former Director of Central Intelligence George Tenet and former Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Douglas J. Feith have reopened the debate over the origins of the Iraq War. Both men—who were widely blamed for the ‘intelligence failure’ on weapons of mass destruction and the exaggerated connection between Al-Qaeda and Iraq—purport to set the record straight about what really happened inside the Bush administration during the run-up to the war. Yet, both men have actually produced books marked by a strange combination of self-pity and disingenuousness. This article looks at their attempts at self-justification in light of the growing evidence that the decision to invade was made in mid-2002; if true, their arguments that they were participating in a genuine policy debate rather than a search for a rationale become problematic. Rather than exculpating themselves, their memoirs instead serve as damning indictments of both men, showing how Tenet and Feith enabled the President's decision to wage war on Iraq as a matter of choice rather than necessity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Book reviews in this article: International Relations theory The logic of violence in civil war. By Stathis N. Kalyvas. The Oxford handbook of contextual political analysis. Edited by Robert E. Goodin and Charles H. Tilly. The Oxford handbook of political theory. Edited by John S. Dryzek, Bonnie Honig and Anne Phillips. International law and organization Terrorism and the state: rethinking the rules of state responsibility. By Tal Becker. Humanitarian intervention. Edited by Terry Nardin and Melissa S. Williams. Managing the challenges of WTO participation: 45 case studies. Edited by Peter Gallagher, Patrick Low and Andrew L. Stoler. Between peril and promise: the politics of international law. By J. Martin Rochester. Promoting the rule of law abroad: in search of knowledge. Edited by Thomas Carothers. Foreign policy Deterring America: rogue states and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. By Derek Smith. Bush and Asia: America's evolving relations with East Asia. Edited by Mark Beeson. Old Europe, new Europe and the US: renegotiating transatlantic security in the post 9/11 era. Edited by Tom Lansford and Blagovest Tashev. Conflict, security and armed forces Cobra II: the inside story of the invasion and occupation of Iraq. By Michael R. Gordon and General Bernard E. Trainor. Fiasco: the American military adventure in Iraq. By Thomas E. Ricks. Preventive attack and weapons of mass destruction: a comparative historical analysis. By Lyle J. Goldstein. In the name of terrorism: presidents on political violence in the post-World War II era. By Carol K. Winkler. Politics, democracy and social affairs Corruption: anthropological perspectives. Edited by Dieter Haller and Cris Shore. Cambiare regime. La sinistra e gli ultimi 45 dittatori. By Christian Rocca. Political economy, economics and development How we compete: what companies around the world are doing to make it in today's global economy. By Suzanne Berger. Ethnicity and cultural politics Islamic imperialism: a history. By Efraim Karsh. The Kurds in Turkey: EU accession and human rights. By Kerim Yildiz. History The ends of British imperialism: the scramble for empire, Suez and decolonization. By Wm Roger Louis. Among the dead cities: was the Allied bombing of civilians in WWII a necessity or a crime? By A. C. Grayling. Total Cold War: Eisenhower's secret propaganda battle at home and abroad. By Kenneth Osgood. Congress and the Cold War. By Robert David Johnson. Europe The will to survive: a history of Hungary. By Bryan Cartledge. Russia and Eurasia Revolution in orange: the origins of Ukraine's democratic breakthrough. Edited by Anders Åslund and Michael McFaul. Middle East and North Africa Confronting Iran. By Ali M. Ansari. Syria and Iran: diplomatic alliance and power politics in the Middle East. By Jubin Goodarzi. Islam, democracy and the state in Algeria: lessons for the Western Mediterranean and beyond. Edited by Michael Bonner, Megan Reif and Mark Tessler. Sub-Saharan Africa Thabo Mbeki and the battle for the sould of the ANC. By William Mervin Gumede. The other side of history: an anecdotal reflection on political transition in South Africa. By Frederik van Zyl Slabbert. Asia and Pacific Bangladesh: the next Afghanistan? By Hiranmay Karlekar. North America State of war: the secret history of the CIA and the Bush administration. By James Risen. The United States and right-wing dictatorships. By David F. Schmitz. Latin America and Caribbean When states kill: Latin America, the US and technologies of terror. Edited by Cecilia Menjívar and Néstor Rodríguez. Contesting citizenship in Latin America: the rise of indigenous movements and the postliberal challenge. By Deborah J. Yashar. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Books reviewed: G. John Ikenberry and Michael Mastanduno, International Relations theory and the Asia-Pacific Mark B. Salter, Barbarians and civilisation in international relations Philip Allott, The health of nations: society and law beyond the state Morten Bøås and Desmond McNeill, Multilateral institutions: a critical introduction Vassilis K. Fouskas, Zones of conflict: US foreign policy in the Balkans and the greater Middle East Thomas L. Friedman, Longitudes and attitudes: exploring the world after September 11 John Pinder and Yuri Shishkov, The EU and Russia: the promise of partnership Chester A. Crocker, Fen Osler Hampson and Pamela Aall, Turbulent peace: the challenges of managing international conflict Tobias Debiel with Axel Klein, Fragile peace: state failure, violence and development in crisis regions Jolyon Howorth and John T.S. Keeler, Defending Europe: the EU, NATO and the quest for European autonomy Paul K. Huth and Todd L. Allee, The democratic peace and territorial conflict in the twentieth century Patrick M. Morgan, Deterrence now P. W. Singer, Corporate warriors: the rise of the privatized military industry Eytan Gilboa, Media and conflict: framing issues, making policy, shaping opinion Walter Lacqueur, No end to war: terrorism in the twenty-first century Fareed Zakaria, The future of freedom: illiberal democracy at home and abroad Elizabeth Sleeman, International who's who 2004 Akbar S. Ahmed, Islam under siege: living dangerously in a post-honor world Richard D. Lewis, The cultural imperative: global trends in the 21st century Amin Saikal, Islam and the West: conflict or cooperation? Sami Zubaida, Law and power in the Islamic world By. Graham Bird, The IMF and the future: issues and options facing the Fund Barry Eichengreen, Financial crises and what to do about them United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, World investment report 2002: transnational corporations and export competitiveness Elizabeth R. DeSombre, The global environment and world politics: International Relations for the 21st century Paul F. Steinberg, Environmental leadership in developing countries: transnational relations and biodiversity policy in Costa Rica and Bolivia Carolyn L. Deere and Daniel C. Esty, Greening the Americas: NAFTA's lessons for hemispheric trade Csaba Békés, Malcolm Byrne and János Rainer, The 1956 Hungarian revolution: a history in documents Christoph Bluth, The two Germanies and military security in Europe Philip E. Catton, Diem's final failure: prelude to America's war in Vietnam Tibor Frank, Discussing Hitler. Advisers of US diplomacy in Central Europe, 1934–1941 Anthony Glees, The Stasi files: East Germany's secret operations against Britain Keith Kyle, Suez: Britain's end of empire in the Middle East Julian Lewis, Changing direction: British military planning for post-war strategic defence, 1942–1947 Richard Mayne, In victory, magnanimity: in peace, goodwill: a history of Wilton Park Robert McNamara, Britain, Nasser and the balance of power in the Middle East 1952–1967 Steven Merritt Miner, Stalin's holy war: religion, nationalism, and alliance politics, 1941–1945 Sophie Quinn-Judge, Ho Chi Minh: the missing years (1911–1941) Gary Sheffield and Geoffrey Till, The challenges of high command: the British experience Florian Bieber and Zidas Daskalovski, Understanding the war in Kosovo Ali Çarkoğlu and Barry Rubin, Turkey and the European Union: domestic politics, economic integration and international dynamics Alan J. Day, Roger East and Richard Thomas, A political and economic dictionary of Eastern Europe Tom Gallagher, The Balkans after the Cold War: from tyranny to tragedy Kemal Kurspahic, Prime time crime: Balkan media in war and peace David Bruce MacDonald, Balkan holocausts? Serbian and Croatian victim-centred propaganda and the war in Yugoslavia Sandra Lavenex and Emek M. Uçarer, Migration and the externalities of European integration Marko Lehti and David Smith, Post-Cold War identity politics: northern and Baltic experiences Pami Aalto, Constructing post-Soviet geopolitics in Estonia Anatol Lieven and Dmitri Trenin, Ambivalent neighbors: the EU, NATO and the price of membership J. H. H. Weiler, Iain Begg and John Peterson, Integration in an expanding European Union: reassessing the fundamentals Dale R. Herspring, Putin's Russia: past imperfect, future uncertain Ted Hopf, Social construction of international politics: identities and foreign policies, Moscow, 1955 and 1999 Necati Polat, Boundary issues in Central Asia Mark Downes, Iran's unresolved revolution Alan George, Syria. Neither bread nor freedom Tami Amanda Jacoby and Brent E. Sasley, Redefining security in the Middle East Owen Bennett Jones, Pakistan: eye of the storm Christophe Jaffrelot, Pakistan: nationalism without nation Rajat Ganguly and Ian MacDuff, Ethnic conflict and secessionism in South and Southeast Asia E. J. Dionne Jr. and William Kristol, Bush v. Gore. The court cases and the commentary Bruce Ackerman, Bush v. Gore. The question of legitimacy Ido Oren, Our enemies and US: America's rivalries and the making of political science Monica Herz and João Pontes Nogueira, Ecuador vs. Peru: peacemaking amid rivalry Frank Safford and Marco Palacios, Colombia: fragmented land, divided society [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]